The present invention relates to a vehicle having a control mechanism for effecting a gear change in a vehicle, and is particularly applicable to a mechanism for controlling a forward/reverse shuttle mechanism in an agricultural tractor.
Agricultural tractors commonly have a lever for selecting the direction of travel, which is different from the lever for selecting the gear ratio. Having such a separate forward/reverse shuttle lever is convenient during low speed steering maneuvers, such as turning around a tractor towing a plough. In some vehicles, the shuttle can be operated without separately needing to operate a clutch during the gear changes.
Currently more sophisticated agricultural vehicles with electronically controlled transmissions, have an electrical or electronic forward/reverse shuttle control lever mounted on the steering column. On the other hand, vehicles with mechanically controlled transmissions currently have a mechanical lever located either on the left or right side of the tractor, depending upon the model of the vehicle.